A legal battle to overturn the decision to ban the three books went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the school board's decision at the British Columbia Court of Appeal was overturned in favour of the original lower court judgment. The judgment cited the need for families headed by same-sex couples to be respected. Chief JusticeBeverley McLachlin dismissed the board's concerns that children would be confused or misled by classroom information about same-sex parents. She pointed out that the children of same-sex parents are rubbing shoulders with children from more traditional families and wrote: "Tolerance is always age-appropriate, children cannot learn unless they are exposed to views that differ from those they are taught at home." The legal fees ended up costing Surrey taxpayers over $1,200,000.